Appaloosas Appear on 1883
Originally appeared in the April 2022 edition of the Appaloosa News Magazine.
At this point, most stock horse people know the name Taylor Sheridan. For those of you without cable or streaming services, he is the writer/director/producer/actor responsible for shows that heavily feature a western way of life. First came The Run For A Million, which introduced the world to the highly competitive NRHA industry. That was followed by The Last Cowboy, a reality series that also highlights NRHA professionals. He brought the western life to a much wider audience in his show Yellowstone. This drama has also featured NRHA and NRCHA professionals in its episodes. His shows have brought a great deal of attention and money to Quarter Horses, NRHA and NRCHA venues. This has left some of us wondering, what about the Appaloosas?
Enter 1883, a prequel to Yellowstone that shares the story of how the original Dutton’s found their way to the Yellowstone ranch in Montana. If you have watched the show, you know that we finally see the appearance of Appaloosa horses.
We caught up with Lesli Glen, former ApHC director and Appaloosa owner and trainer, who provided 1883 with some of the Appaloosas shown on screen.
Lesli has horses in her blood. Her family moved to Montana as a child after her father retired from the Air Force. The first two horses the family acquired were two Appaloosa mares that were not even halter broke. For a family that knew nothing about horses, they learned quickly. At 6, she “stole” her father’s 16.2 Appaloosa because she hated the pony she was riding. They rode bareback from the time she was 6 to 14 and was talked into participating in 4-H. Lesli had to borrow a saddle to show and was immediately hooked on horse shows.
Don Pancho J was a versatile horse. He would show at a rodeo and the next weekend move on to winning at horse shows. He fueled her fire for horses, and he stayed with the family for his entire life.
At the age of 20, Lesli moved on to riding Jumpers and at 21 she started to work for a trainer who had Paint horses. She trained as a professional for over 40 years and mostly showed the Quarter Horse circuit. In 2000, a friend asked her to take on an Appaloosa for training and she ended up with 4 Appaloosas in training that year. She took all the horses to the World Show that year.
Lesli’s customers soon realized that the Appaloosa folks were super friendly, and they started to buy and show Appaloosas. She was on the ApHC board of directors for 6 years and has started breeding her own Appaloosas. Lesli retired from training professionally about 6 years ago and now only trains her own horses. She and her husband run a commercial landscaping business.
So how did Lesli get hooked up with the wranglers on 1883? Long story short is that apparently if you say the word Appaloosa in Montana, everyone tells you to talk to Lesli. But we’ll give you the long story anyway.
Lesli said she was at a rodeo one day and got a text from Codi Burris. Codi said that she knows someone involved with the shooting of 1883 and they were looking for Appaloosas in Montana. Within a minute, the person called her and asked for pictures of her horses. Lesli sent pictures and the production team liked her bay mare. She didn’t hear from anyone for a few weeks and then she got a Facebook message from a rodeo friend who was also part of the show. Again, he was asked if he knew anyone with Appaloosas in Montana and Lesli’s name came up.
Lesli was contacted by the head wrangler, Kenneth, and they spoke. When Lesli found out what they wanted to do, she knew the bay mare wasn’t a good fit but had other ideas. The producers were looking for horses to be in the native American encampment.
The Appaloosas that are in the riding scenes were provided by a member of the Nez Perce Tribe. The Appaloosas that you see in the camp scenes are Lesli’s or belong to friends of hers. Her horses were quiet enough to be in the camp scenes as the horses would have to be around tons of equipment and people. Lesli called some friends and enlisted their loud colored horses for the camp scenes.
Lesli was contacted by the head wrangler, Kenneth, and they spoke. When Lesli found out what they wanted to do, she knew the bay mare wasn’t a good fit but had other ideas. The producers were looking for horses to be in the native American encampment.
The Appaloosas that are in the riding scenes were provided by a member of the Nez Perce Tribe. The Appaloosas that you see in the camp scenes are Lesli’s or belong to friends of hers. Her horses were quiet enough to be in the camp scenes as the horses would have to be around tons of equipment and people. Lesli called some friends and enlisted their loud colored horses for the camp scenes.
Lesli enlisted friend Mark Anderson’s cow horse Neemapoos Rising Sun (Khaleesi), and 11-year-old Tylyn Thiels’ 28 year old leopard gelding, Kenzies Casey (Casey). Lesli added one of her own horses, Exquisitely Dun (Lexi) and Kenzie Monk’s reining/cow bred horse Naturally Fantastic(Deniro) and Lesli and Mark headed to the shoot. Lesli has some experience in films doing stunt work, but this was Mark’s first experience on a production set.
Mark and Lesli were at the shoot for two days. When they drove up on a chilly Montana morning at 5:30 am, the location was a city of tents, wagons, and trailers. They met the wranglers for the show, who took the horses to get them ready for their work. Then Lesli and Mark basically sat around and waited. Lesli was given permission to be near the shooting to watch and could take pictures with the proviso of “just don’t post them until the show airs”. Because of their horse savvy, she and Mark ended up helping with the horses during the scenes, holding them and in Lesli’s case, hiding behind a tepee during shooting for a horse hand off.
There is a lot of standing around and waiting on a film set, not unlike a horse show! During one of the down moments, Tim McGraw, one of the main characters on the show, was walking around the set. He walked right up to Mark and Lesli, stuck out his hand and thanked them for bringing the beautiful horses to the set. He was kind enough to take a picture with Tylinn’s horse. A bit later, actor Sam Elliot stopped by to introduce himself and chat for a bit. He too was kind enough to take some pictures and make Mark’s day.
Lesli said that she and Mark had a great time. The best part of the experience for her was being able to share this with her friends and having them see their horses in the production. The leopards were saddled in the scenes and Lesli’s own horse can be seen in the background of the sweat lodge shots tied to a tree.
The wranglers for the show had a great respect for the Appaloosas on set. Lesli enjoyed the fact that there was no prejudice against the Appaloosa or jokes made about them like Appaloosa owners sometimes hear in other situations. They had a great appreciation for the breed, the disposition, and the quality of the horses. The wranglers stated they were looking for Appaloosas for other work and took Lesli’s information. With any luck, hopefully we will continue to see our breed so well represented in other entertainment venues.
As for Lesli, she only had to hold onto the secret for a few months. The scenes were shot in November and aired in January. The Appaloosa community is grateful that Lesli and her friend’s horses represented the breed so well and showed the film community how valuable our horses can be for their future productions.
You can watch 1883 on Paramount + and see some spots in later episodes.
Thank you Lesli Glen for the interview and photographs.
Originally appeared in the April 2022 edition of the Appaloosa News Magazine.
